This unique wedding invitation was printed on wood, making it a fun and stylish memento. Paper Dolls of Saratoga specializes in eco-friendly options. (Photo courtesy of Paper Dolls)

This unique wedding invitation was printed on wood, making it a fun and stylish memento. Paper Dolls of Saratoga specializes in eco-friendly options. (Photo courtesy of Paper Dolls)

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Using environmentally friendly, locally grown flowers is also a popular option for bouquets. HeavenScent Florist of Saratoga is an option for people interested. (Photo courtesy of HeavenScent Florist)

Using environmentally friendly, locally grown flowers is also a popular option for bouquets. HeavenScent Florist of Saratoga is an option for people interested. (Photo courtesy of HeavenScent Florist)

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By having your centerpieces planted instead of buying cut flowers, it allows guests to take the planter home to continue enjoying it past your big day. HeavenScent Florist of Saratoga is an option for people interested. (Photo courtesy of HeavenScent Florist) less

By having your centerpieces planted instead of buying cut flowers, it allows guests to take the planter home to continue enjoying it past your big day. HeavenScent Florist of Saratoga is an option for people ... more

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ONLINE EXCLUSIVE: White Weddings Go Green

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Kate Harrison knew she wanted an ecologically friendly, "green" wedding. She and husband, Barry Muchnick, chose to get married in Garrison, a Hudson River Valley location that had ample access to locally-grown organic food. They didn't want to import flowers, so they brought flowers cut from their own garden.

They tried to make sure every element, from the invitations to the wedding dress, was as environmentally friendly as possible. The biggest challenge, Harrison says, was transporting guests the two miles from the wedding ceremony amid the rolling hills of Cat Rock Estate to the reception at The Garrison restaurant. "We found a company that had biodiesel shuttles," Harrison says. "But through a series of unfortunate events, they ended up sending their SUV stretch limos with leopard prints and mirrors on the ceiling!"

The lessons she learned while planning her own wedding, however, inspired Harrison to write The Green Bride Guide: How to Plan an Earth-friendly Wedding on Any Budget That her book became a bestseller speaks volumes about the number of brides eager to follow her example.

"I would use the term explosive growth," Harrison says, who now runs the Internet-based company thegreenbride.com "When I started, we were looking at about 5 and 10 percent of market in 2008. Now a survey by David's Bridal shows that almost 50 percent of couples are looking to go green."

You're Invited

Thanks in part to companies such as Harrison's, it's much easier today to make eco-friendly choices down to the last detail. Most couples aren't looking to go 100 percent green, Harrison says, but they are eager to incorporate green elements.

"The most popular is an ecofriendly invitation," says Harrison. "It's one of the easiest and least expensive [ways to go green]." The days of gilded invitations with multiple pockets for RSVPS, directions, and itineraries seem to be fading, notes Cora Burns, co-owner of Paper Dolls in Saratoga. "We definitely are getting more people who want to go green, using either less paper, recycled paper, or reusing paper," Burns says. "We definitely accommodate all those requests."

Paper Dolls offers paper made of renewable bamboo, invitations printed on wood, paper printed with soy ink, letter press printing methods that require less energy, and recycled paper that shimmers without the metallic chemicals that were once needed.

Additionally, "There are great papers we have now that have seeds in them and you can plant them afterward and they will grow to a garden," Burns says. Commercially, the options keep expanding because "there's a desire for it.

"You can direct people to a website. Instead of doing a brunch card on a 5-by-4 inch card, we do a lot of business card-sized inserts, so you use less paper. You don't have to have an envelope with your response; you can do postcards. For the very environmentally conscious, it's one piece of paper that folds up," Burns says.

Burns has also found creative and personal ways to reuse paper. "We encourage recycling items," she says. "We had a bride and groom who were musicians and they had a ton of sheet music, so we used sheet music."

Local Flavor

Food is a major component of any wedding and thanks to an abundance of local organic farms, this has become a popular and relatively easy way to go green.

"We were getting a lot of requests from our bridal couples for locally-sourced products," says Susan Baker, vice president of sales and marketing for Mazzone Hospitality, which manages four banquet locations from Saratoga to Schenectady along with four a la carte restaurants. "It became apparent this was a trend."

To meet the demand, about a year ago the company started offering a "farm to fork" menu of locally grown produce ranging from grass-fed beef to figs. Local vineyards and microbreweries offer a fine selection of wine and beer, too. Couples who have a hankering for something specific, however, must consider what is seasonally available and plan accordingly.

"If someone wants strawberries in January, I can get them, but it will be very expensive and they'll be flown in from Chile," Baker says. With enough advance notice, however, local farms will plant to order. "Many of them are willing to plant for a particular event," Baker says. "If we need fiddlehead ferns for 200 people, there's a growing season for that but we can source it out, so it's a wonderful collaboration."

Catch that Bouquet

Flowers would seem to be inherently green, but the floral industry has not, historically, been noted for its environmentally sustainable practices. Many florists import flowers coated in pesticides and grown in less than desirable conditions in South America, and most are simply thrown away after the wedding.

One way to be more eco-friendly is to look for flowers that are Veriflora-certified, which assures they have been cultivated in an environmentally-sustainable way. Better yet, go with locally-grown flowers. "I rely heavily on the local flower farms," says Jordan Baker of Heaven Scent, an eco-friendly florist in Saratoga Springs. "They're not typically using heavy pesticides. We try to lay off the importing of flowers. We do a lot of planted centerpieces, not cut flowers, because they're typically thrown [away], which is something that horrified me."

The most popular wedding flowers, such as peonies and dahlias, are grown locally but again, plan ahead if you have a particular flower in mind. "Before you plan your date, call a florist and ask what will be growing locally," Baker advises. Peonies grow like weeds in the Albany area in May and June, while dahlias are abundant in October.

If you want orchids, Baker suggests using planted orchids that people can take home with them. Forced bulbs such as tulips or amaryllis, make lovely centerpieces in the dreary winter months as do potted herbs or terrariums of succulents.

Plants make great favors, too. Plant a Memory in Locke, N.Y. offers a huge selection of eco-friendly products, including seed favors, seedlings wrapped in recycled paper and tied with raffia, flower bulbs, and evergreen seedlings for winter weddings, in addition to beeswax candles and natural soaps.

"I think people want to do things more naturally now," says Plant a Memory founder Sheila Sheffield. "I'm sure the florists have noticed a big difference. Generally people are more aware than they used to be."

Where to Wed?

For many couples, getting married outdoors is the ideal way to go green and let nature provide the backdrop. If you have a vision of being married surrounded by thousands of roses, tying the knot among the English roses at Yaddo Gardens in Saratoga Springs is the ideal alternative to importing roses from half a world away.

When deciding on a location, however, consider how far everyone has to travel and provide group transportation to and from the wedding and the reception. Many environmentally-conscious couples choose to offset carbon emissions by purchasing carbon credits, but there's an even simpler way to reduce the amount of gas burned by guests. "You see weddings and receptions happening in one location," says wedding planner Kris Royal-Salerno of Kris Royal Weddings. "That saves on travel and gas and the carbon print that your wedding makes."

Look for venues that pride themselves on being "green." Gideon Putnam Resort Weddings in Saratoga Springs, for instance, offers "green" weddings that promise stunning settings and low environmental impact. But even if you're planning a reception at a local restaurant, you can pick one that uses a "green" laundry service and forgo the multilayered tablecloths.

"Over half of the budget is spent on the venue and food, so this is a really important way to have more sustainable choices," Harrison says.

Something Old

While many couples are interested in incorporating some green elements, many brides still cling to one white element. "I think the last frontier of green is the wedding gown," Harrison says. "There aren't that many designers offering green options and people have a very clear idea on what they want to wear."

Although some designers offer wedding dresses made from hemp, sustainable silk or organic cotton, the choices are still limited. Once-worn wedding dresses seem to be becoming more popular, however. Harrison says she's heard of brides-to-be going to bridal stores to try on dresses, then going elsewhere to buy it from companies that offer once-used dresses. "It used to be taboo to have a used dress," says Rosalie Meyers of Bridal Gowns Used in Albany, adding that she has seen an increase in sales of the retro, vintage, sample, and used designer wedding gowns she offers.

If you have your heart set on a new dress, as many brides do, consider giving it to Brides Against Breast Cancer after the ceremony or to the I Do Foundation, which donates 20 percent of the proceeds from the sale of your dress to the charity of your choice. Bridesmaids can donate their dresses to the Glass Slipper Project, which offers them as prom dresses.

"Charitable giving has been really big this year and, excitingly, we're starting to see a real uptick in people including eco-friendly gifts on registries," says Harrison.

Bottom line, while the demand for green wedding services has prompted some new services, the industry still has a way to go, Harrison says. "There is not a single area of the wedding that I feel like the demand is being met."

"It's really cool to go green," Harrison adds. "[I tell vendors] look at the demographic projections and get on board as fast as you can."

A survey by David's Bridal shows that almost 50 percent of couples are looking to go green. -- Kate Harrison